1. Technical Field
The various embodiments described herein are related to wireless devices, and more particularly to a self-declaring electronic license plate (e-plate) which can be used to immobilize a vehicle.
2. Related Art
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology harnesses electromagnetic fields to transfer data wirelessly. One of the primary uses for RFID technology is the automatic identification and tracking of objects via RFID tags, which can be attached or incorporated into a variety of objects. Examples include credit cards, passports, license plates, identity cards, cellphones/mobile devices, etc. RFID technology also has applications in numerous areas, including, but not limited to, electronic tolling, parking access, border control, payment processing, asset management, and transportation. Thus, for example, a license plate that includes an RFID tag can be used for the purposes of electronic toll collection (ETC), electronic vehicle registration (EVR), and border crossing, among others.
ETC systems often rely on RFID transponders installed on vehicles to identify the vehicles and to apply toll charges. For example, when crossing a toll plaza, an RFID transponder on a vehicle can communicate with an RFID reader at the toll plaza to provide vehicle identification information (e.g., one or more identifiers) that allows the ETC system to identify and debit a toll account associated with the vehicle.
While some types of RFID transponders may be carried inside a vehicle (e.g., on the windshield), a growing number of RFID transponders are integrated into vehicle's license plates (referred to as “RFID-enabled license plates” or simply “e-plates”). Because RFID-enabled license plates are typically secured to the exterior of a vehicle, such license plates are particularly susceptible to theft. However, conventional RFID-enabled license plates do not provide security mechanisms that could prevent misuse of stolen plates and discourage theft.
Moreover, in various ETC applications, while tolling authorities may impose a fixed toll rate for some roads, bridges, and tunnels, it becomes increasingly common to encounter transportation channels where the applicable toll is determined based on vehicle occupancy. Conventional occupancy-based ETC systems rely on switchable RFID transponders, which are commonly attached to a vehicle's windshield inside the vehicle. A driver would manually select one of the available modes representing different occupancies on the switchable RFID transponder in order to transmit the current occupancy information (i.e., the number of occupants inside the vehicle) to an ETC reader. However, these conventional switchable RFID transponders provide a limited number of modes and can thus transmit only a limited number of possible occupancy scenarios.